There are one or two long cuts or indentations in the top, which are said
to have been made by Jack Cade's sword when he struck it against the
stone. If so, his sword was of a redoubtable temper. Judging by what I
saw, London stone was a rudely shaped and unhewn post.
At the London Bridge station, we took the rail for Greenwich, and, it
being only about five miles off, we were not long in reaching the town.
It was Easter Monday; and during the first three days of Easter, from
time immemorial, a fair has been held at Greenwich, and this was what we
had come to see.
[This fair is described in Our Old Home, in "A Loudon Suburb."]
Reaching Mr. Bennoch's house, we found it a pretty and comfortable one,
and adorned with many works of art; for he seems to be a patron of art
and literature, and a warm-hearted man, of active benevolence and vivid
sympathies in many directions. His face shows this. I have never seen
eyes of a warmer glow than his. On the walls of one room there were a
good many sketches by Haydon, and several artists' proofs of fine
engravings, presented by persons to whom he had been kind. In the
drawing-room there was a marble bust of Mrs. ------, and one, I think, of
himself, and one of the Queen, which Mr. Bennoch said was very good, and
it is unlike any other I have seen. It is intended as a gift, from a
number of subscribers, to Miss Nightingale. Likewise a crayon sketch of
------, looking rather morbid and unwholesome, as the poor lady really
is.
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